Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2876 to 2900 of 3160 results

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... isn’t the only place where people lose track of why they do the things they do but continue doing them anyway! Of all the things I could have asked Lefty Gomez, this was a pretty silly question. What I would have really liked to know is what sort of a person Babe Ruth really was. Did the man match his legend or were his exploits on and off the field just creative public relations? I would guess that the second generation Christians had pretty much the same questions about Jesus. Was he really all they ...

2877. Who's the Fool?

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

George Reed

... interested in the plight of the poor and the underprivileged. God takes it personally when the poor are used for the gain of others. Jesus makes the point even clearer for those of us who might have missed it in the prophetic literature. He tells the story of the sorting of the sheep and the goats and explicitly states that the way we treat those in need is the way that we are treating him. So if God self-identifies with the poor, how are we doing in the way we treat the poor and, therefore, God? Most of ...

2878. Joseph, When Did You Know?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... promises of the Advent season, the season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. It’s funny that the modern Christian church spends four weeks—the season of Advent—preparing for Christ’s coming, because the first Christmas was a total surprise that sort of snuck up on everyone involved. And it’s funny that this fourth Sunday of Advent is usually thought of as the Sunday of Peace. It wasn’t very peaceful for at least one of the story’s leading figures, a humble and righteous man ...

2879. Portraying Jesus

Illustration

Phillip Yancey

... In the Middle Ages, Christians widely believed that Jesus had suffered from leprosy. Most Christians today would find such notions repulsive and perhaps heretical. Was he not a perfect specimen of humanity? Yet in all the Bible there is only one physical description of sorts, a prophecy written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth. Here is Isaiah’s portrayal, in the midst of a passage that the New Testament applies to the life of Jesus: Just as there were many who were appalled at him--his appearance ...

2880. In Need of a "Rally Monkey"

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... that when Jesus sent his followers out to preach and teach and do miracles in his name, they went out boldly and successfully completed that challenge. It was in the little acts of love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, they tended to fall on their faces. The disciples sound sort of like us. Years ago, a young man was arrested and convicted of burglary in New York City. How did the police catch him? As he began his burglary of a high-rise apartment, he noticed a statue of Jesus on the mantelpiece. He could not ...

2881. Understanding Outrageous Grace

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... that right. The citizen from Hell complains, “Look at me, now. I gone straight all my life. I don’t say I was a religious man and I don’t say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life, see? . . . That’s the sort of chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn’t mine by rights. If I wanted a drink I paid for it and if I took my wages I done my job, see? . . . I’m asking for nothing but my rights . . . I’m not asking for anybody’s ...

2882. The Procrastinator's Poem

Illustration

Staff

... through my desk for forgotten utensils. I reset my watch, I adjusted my chair, I’ve loosened my tie and straightened my hair. I filled my pen and tested the blotter And gone for another drink of water Adjusted the calendar, and I’ve raised the blind And I’ve sorted erasers of all different kinds. Now down to work I can finally sit, Oops, too late, it’s time to quit.

2883. Surprised by Joy

Luke 2:8-14

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... Sarah would commit the grievous and unimaginable insult of extending a wish for “Happy Holidays” to a fragile and hyper-sensitive Christian shopper who would respond with outrage and indignation. The reactions of these dear folks would generally be of two sorts. Some would snap back, “It’s not a holiday; It’s Christmas!” Others would sigh, close their eyes, purse their lips, shake their head and wearily respond, “No, dear. Merry Christmas.” Sarah says that, though she never did it, she ...

2884. Counting the Cost

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

George Reed

... else matters. This is what Jesus was getting at when he told us that if we seek after the kingdom of God, God’s reign, first then everything else will fall into place. Once God and God’s desire for creation are put first in our lives then we can sort out and reorder the rest as seems best to us. Whatever we turn our minds and hands to can become blessed if they are done to the glory of God and growth of God’s realm. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

2885. Jesus Destroys the Power of Sin

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... secrets. After all what is the point of having “secret knowledge” if you cannot share the fact that you have it? The lure of “secret knowledge” that is, conversely, known and controlled by a select few, is what has kept all sorts of organizations going — such as modern day fraternities and sororities, the mysterious Masons, the secretive Knight’s Templar, the ancient Gnostics. They all have wanted to keep their secrets. But also, selectively, to share them. Biblical scholars have long noted the ...

2886. The Source of the Power

Luke 17:5-10

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... through the side of mountains. I’m always awed by the brilliance of the engineers who designed those tunnels. How were they carved out of the solid rock? I’m sure that dynamite was the key. Sticks of dynamite were well placed and then ignited by some sort of fuse. The fuse was necessary but it was not the source of power. The power came from the nitroglycerin in that dynamite. The fuse just ignited it. Similarly, God’s power is like that dynamite that moves mountains. Our faith is just the fuse that ...

2887. Recognizing Who God Is

Job 42:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... messes in the house. By 35, I'll be vice president at my firm. Eventually, I'll retire and travel around the world. I'll always be healthy, attractive, vigorous, and financially secure. What happens when Plan A falls apart? I'm sure Jim MacLaren had some sort of road map in mind for his life. The 22-year-old actor and athlete was hit by a bus while riding his bike around town. The doctors at the emergency room declared Jim dead on arrival. To the amazement of the medical staff, Jim survived the accident ...

2888. The Art of Impersonation

Matthew 5:21-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... with a brother or sister? Is there a conversation we’ve been putting off? Rev. Nathan D. Baxter, the Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, tells of growing up in a family of strong-willed brothers. As you can imagine, the brothers got into all sorts of arguments and fights with each other. Usually the arguments would blow over, but sometimes Nathan’s mother had to get involved. And she always had the same formula for ending any kind of fight or argument: “You boys go back and resolve it,” she ...

2889. Trusting in the Goodness of God

Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... giving up control of our TV remote, because we hate giving up control of anything. (1) [I can see some of you men thinking, in the words of the old joke, “now he’s quit preaching and gone to meddling.”] Last year, Twitter employees sorted through more than 44,000 tweets that referenced the word “Lent” and the words “giving up” to come up with the most popular things that people were sacrificing for Lent that year. Their top five in order were: social networking, like Facebook and Instagram ...

2890. The Definition of Church

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Molly F. James

... so they melted their jewelry into a golden calf and decided to worship it instead of God. So many of us get sidetracked. They lost their focus and got caught up in the temptation of the material world. The Israelites thought they had the problem all sorted out when they built the temple in Jerusalem. The put the Ark of the Covenant there and thought they had solved the problem by providing a physical place to worship God. Then Jerusalem was invaded, the temple was destroyed, and the people were exiled. We ...

2891. Same Ol’, Same Ol’

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... -angel said to them, “Be not afraid.” Now we come to Herod the Great, the king, the powerful, the ruthless, the cunning, and the resourceful. He reacted to this story of the coming messiah the same as everyone else, with fear. But his fear was of a different sort. Herod’s fear was the paranoid fear of losing his power and his privilege. Herod’s fear was that he wouldn’t get to be king anymore and that his sons wouldn’t get to be king. His fear was the fear of loss — the loss of power, the ...

2892. Simon Gives His Strengths

Mark 15:21-32

Children's Sermon

Donald Neidigk

... that's how long the beam Jesus carried was. You see, he probably only carried part of his cross, not all of it. It would have just been too heavy. Even part of the cross was too heavy for Jesus. He had been up all night being accused of all sorts of things that weren't true. He was also beaten and whipped by his enemies and the soldiers. Jesus was so tired and weak the soldiers made Simon help Jesus. Jesus carried more than the cross though. Do you know what other heavy burden Jesus took with him when he ...

2893. The Thief Who Gave Nothing

Luke 23:26-43

Children's Sermon

Donald Neidigk

... is what people read when they are looking for a job. Companies with jobs they need to fill put an ad in the paper. Usually the ad tells what qualifications someone has to meet if he wants the job. If you were going to hire someone for a job, what sort of person would you want him to be? (Repeat children's answers.) Sure. We would want someone who is hardworking and honest and maybe strong. It would be nice if the person were smart and experienced. If God were to trying to fill a job in heaven with a help ...

2894. Don't Give In

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... in the here and now, or sooner rather than later, our Lenten journey calls us to the part we will play, as co-participants with Jesus in not giving in. His story helps us in turning away from the temptations, rebuffing the call to abandon our hope for some sort of worldly perception that other things are better than God, or that the world is not really in the hands of God, but in the hands of the adversary of God or in hands of the humans taking it to themselves for power and influence. It does make a ...

2895. Learning to Walk in the Dark

Matthew 26:14-16

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... Taylor titled her 2014 book Learning to Walk in the Dark. .In the introduction she pointed out, “From earliest times, Christians have used ‘darkness’ as a synonym for sin, ignorance, spiritual blindness, and death. At the theological level, however, this language creates all sorts of problems. It divides the day in two, pitting the light part against the dark part. It tucks all the sinister stuff into the dark part, identifying God with the sunny part and leaving you to deal with the rest on your own ...

2896. The Garden of Betrayal and the Garden of His Burial

John 18:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... laid Jesus there. This was all in preparation for Easter Day. That’s why this is the most solemn day in the Christian year. It is a shame we do not observe it as we once did. Bible scholar William Barclay once told a story that sums up the sort of sacrifice that Christ made on Good Friday. Some of you will remember it. In the First World War there was a young French soldier who was seriously wounded. His arm was so badly smashed that it had to be amputated. He was a magnificent specimen of young manhood ...

2897. Cloak of Power

Psalm 5:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... where he was picking fruit and walks into the king’s court, eyeballing the king and his minions with a divine declaration. God has spoken and the king better listen. The king is making a lot of mistakes, and should the king not listen to the messenger, all sorts of trouble will ensue! You see the dilemma! It was a dangerous occupation to be a prophet! Anyone here NOT familiar with the Harry Potter series of books. I’m sure some of you kids know what Harry’s secret “weapon” was. Can you tell me ...

2898. The Surrogate

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the communion table today, may you feel the “shekinah” of glory come upon you, the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, to garment, encircle, and guard you through whatever insecurities life brings. Most of all, in a culture which idolizes security and will give up all sorts of freedoms for greater security, may you be among the chosen few who are not afraid to be in the world, knowing that you are the “church,” Holy Spirit breathed, and God-promised, the betrothed of Jesus. For it is only those encircled in ...

2899. The Cure

Luke 4:31-37, Luke 4:38-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and joy radiant God’s love and forgiveness. In Jesus’ day, “demons” were inhibitors, such as disease, lack of faith, arrogance, mental illness, physical illnesses. As people learned of Jesus’ ability to heal, they flocked from everywhere the gospelers tell us! People with all sorts of infirmities came to ask Jesus to heal them. And while he healed many of them, he also told them, he would need to go on to other cities too –to proclaim the good news there too! Jesus’ healings are proofs of God ...

2900. A Taxing Encounter

Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of all of his tax collector followers….and other assorted “sinners” who were in attendance, most likely also many of them Jesus followers. Jesus wasn’t consorting only with strangers. He was among those who were following him. But they weren’t the sort that the other Pharisees and Scribes thought to be respectable disciples of such a great rabbi. They were annoyed and confused. Why was Jesus doing this? Jesus wasn’t attacked for calling one tax collector. But he had LOTS of them following him ...

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